Visuals showed PM Modi speaking to the Chinese President at the dinner for all G20 delegates
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping "exchanged courtesies" at a G20 dinner in Bali this evening amid continuing friction between the two nations over border clashes.
A short video showed PM Modi speaking to the Chinese President at a dinner for G20 leaders hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. PM Modi was seen walking up to President Xi before going for a handshake. Both leaders were in traditional Batiq shirts worn by G20 delegates.
The visuals drew attention because the two leaders have not met for bilateral discussions since 2020, when a fierce border clash broke out between Indian and Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh. PM Modi is scheduled to meet with various G20 leaders for bilaterals tomorrow but China is not on the list.
The two leaders attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 15 and 16, but there were no visuals of any handshake or exchange.
Questions had been raised about the possibility of a meeting between PM Modi and Xi Jinping on the margins of the G20 summit amid strained ties over border incursions by China in Eastern Ladakh over the past two years.
Twenty Indian soldiers died for the country in the Galwan clashes that broke out in June 2020. Over 40 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured in that incident, which set off a series of confrontations between the two nations.
After multiple meetings between military commanders, Indian and Chinese troops pulled back from key points including Gogra-Hot Springs in Ladakh. The Chinese forces returned to pre-2020 positions.
Before the G20 summit, Beijing noted that good ties with New Delhi "is in the interest of both countries".